Windows 7
Windows 7 (formerly codenamed Blackcomb and Vienna) is the next release of Microsoft Windows, an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. � Microsoft stated in 2007 that it is planning Windows 7 development for a three-year time frame starting after the release of its predecessor, Windows Vista, but that the final release date will be determined by product quality. Unlike its predecessor, Windows 7 is intended to be an incremental upgrade with the goal of being fully compatible with existing device drivers, applications and hardware. � Presentations given by the company in 2008 have focused on multi-touch support, a redesigned Windows Shell with a new taskbar, a home networking system called HomeGroup, and performance improvements.� � Some applications that have been included with prior releases of Microsoft Windows, most notably Windows Mail, Windows Movie Maker and Windows Photo Gallery, are no longer included with the operating system; they are instead offered separately as part of the Windows Live Essentials suite. Development History In 2000, Microsoft started the planning to follow up Windows XP and its server counterpart Windows Server 2003 (both codenamed Whistler) with a major new release of Windows that was codenamed Blackcomb (both codenames refer to the Whistler-Blackcomb resort). This new version was at that time scheduled for a 2005 release.Microsoft pushes back Blackcomb to 2005.Net Server: Three delays a charm?Major features were planned for Blackcomb, including an emphasis on searching and querying data and an advanced storage system named WinFS to enable such scenarios. In this context, a feature mentioned by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates for Blackcomb was "a pervasive typing line that will recognize the sentence that user is typing in." Later, Blackcomb was delayed and an interim, minor release, codenamed "Longhorn", was announced for a 2003 release. By the middle of 2003, however, Longhorn had acquired some of the features originally intended for Blackcomb, including WinFS, the Desktop Window Manager, and new versions of system components built on the .NET Framework. After the 2003 "Summer of Worms", where three major viruses − Blaster, Sobig, and Welchia − exploited flaws in Windows operating systems within a short time period, Microsoft changed its development priorities, putting some of Longhorn's major development work on hold in order to develop new service packs for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Development of Longhorn was also "reset" in September 2004. Naming As major feature work on Windows Vista wound down in early 2006, Blackcomb was renamed Vienna. However, following the release of Windows Vista, it was confirmed by Microsoft on 20 July 2007 that "the internal name for the next version of the Windows Client OS" was Windows 7, a name that had been reported by some sources months before. On 13 October 2008, it was announced that Windows 7 would also be the official name of the operating system. Mike Nesh, Microsoft's vice-president of Windows product management said: }} Focus Microsoft's Ben Fathi stated on 9 February 2007 that the focus of the operating system was still being worked out, and he could only hint at some possibilities: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Rage, Bill Gates, in an interview with Newsweek, suggested that the next version of Windows would "be more user-centric." When asked to clarify what he meant, Gates said: Gates later said that Windows 7 will also focus on performance improvements: Senior Vice President Bill Veghte stated that Windows 7 will not have the kind of compatibility issues with Vista that Vista has with previous versions: Speaking about Windows 7 on 16 October 2008, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer confirmed compatibility between Vista and Windows 7: Ballmer also confirmed the relationship between Vista and Windows 7, indicating that Windows 7 will be an improved version of Vista. Builds ;Milestone 1 The first known build of Windows 7 was identified as a "Milestone 1 (M1) code drop" according to TG Daily with a version number of 6.1.6519.1. It was sent to key Microsoft partners by January 2008 in both x86 and x86-64 versions. Though not yet commented on by Microsoft, reviews and screenshots have been published by various sources. ThinkNext.net: Screenshots from a blogger with Windows 7 M1 The M1 code drop installation comes as either a standalone install or one which requires Windows Vista with Service Pack 1, and creates a dual-boot system.TG Daily: Windows 7 M1: Nothing to get excited aboutOn 20 April 2008, screenshots and videos of a second build of M1 were leaked with a version number of 6.1.6574.1. This build included changes to Windows Explorer as well as a new Windows Health Center. ;Milestone 2 According to the TG Daily article of 16 January 2008, the Milestone 2 (M2) code drop was at that time scheduled for April or May 2008. A Milestone 2 build was demonstrated at the D6 conference with a build number of 6.1.6589.1.x86fre.winmain_win7m2.080420-1634. The build had a different taskbar than found in Windows Vista, with, among other features, sections divided into different colors. The host declined to comment on it, stating "I'm not supposed to talk about it now today". � =Milestone 3= According to Paul Thurrott, Milestone 3 (build 6780) was shipped to Microsoft employees and close partners in the week of 7 September 2008. Described as visually and functionally similar to Windows Vista by Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet and Stephen Chapman of UX Evangelist, some bundled applications in Milestone 3 now use a ribbon interface similar to that of Office 2007. Many applications that had been integrated into previous versions of Windows have been removed, including Calendar, Contacts, Mail, Meeting Space, Movie Maker, and Photo Gallery and are available as downloads in the Windows Live Wave 3 beta release. WinFuture.de has since leaked 192 images of Windows 7 build 6780. ;Build 6801 On 8 October 2008, screenshots of Windows 7 build 6801 were leaked. On 28 October 2008, Microsoft distributed build 6801 to attendees at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC). It has since been leaked to bittorrent networks. It features an enhanced taskbar similar to the one in build 6933 although it is disabled by default. An unofficial patch has been released to enable the new taskbar in build 6801. ;Build 6933 Microsoft also demonstrated build 6933.winmain.081020-1842 during the PDC, but did not give it to attendees. ;Beta 1 Beta 1 is to be released to the public in mid-December 2008 or early 2009 and the official system requirements for Windows 7 will be available at that time. ;Release Candidate The release candidate for Windows 7 will be available after beta testing.;Final Build While officially Microsoft has stated that Windows 7 will be released by January 2010, which is three years after Vista was shipped, the company has indicated that it plans to release Windows 7 in mid-2009, in time for installation in PCs that will ship for the Christmas 2009 buying season. Features Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE)]] Windows 7 includes a number of new features, such as advancements in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, and kernel improvements.According to reports sent to TG Daily, the Milestone 1 build of Windows 7 adds support for systems using multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors and a new version of Windows Media Center. New features in Milestone 1 also reportedly include Gadgets being integrated into Windows Explorer, a Gadget for Windows Media Center, the ability to visually pin and unpin items from the Start Menu and Recycle Bin, improved media features, the XPS Essentials Pack being integrated, Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), and a multiline Calculator featuring Programmer and Statistics modes along with unit conversion.Reports indicate that a feedback tool included in Milestone 1 lists some coming features: the ability to store Internet Explorer settings on a Windows Live account, updated versions of Paint and WordPad, and a 10-minute install process. In addition, improved network connection tools might be included.Many new items have been added to the Control Panel including: Accelerators, ClearType Text Tuner, Display Color Calibration Wizard, Gadgets, Infrared, Recovery, Troubleshooting, Workspaces Center, Location and Other Sensors, Credential Manager, Biometric Devices, System Icons, Windows Solution Center, and Display. Windows Security Center has been renamed the Windows Solution Center (Windows Health Center in earlier builds) which encompass both security and maintenance of the computer.The taskbar has seen the biggest visual changes, where the Quick Launch has been merged with the buttons to create an enhanced taskbar or what Microsoft internally refers to as the "Superbar". This enhanced taskbar also enables the Jump Lists feature to allow easy access to common tasks. According to released PDC 2008, which was held 27-30 October 2008, session information, Windows 7 discussions will cover "enhancements to the taskbar, Start Menu, thumbnails and their desktop elements", a new networking API with support for building SOAP based web services in native code (as opposed to.NET based WCF web services), new features to shorten application install times, reduced UAC prompts, simplified development of installation packages, and improved globalization support through a new Extended Linguistic Services API. Windows 7 will also contain a new FireWire (IEEE 1394) stack that fully supports IEEE 1394b with S800, S1600 and S3200 data rates. Antitrust regulatory attention As with other Microsoft operating systems, Windows 7 is being studied by federal regulators who oversee the company's operations following the 2001 United States Microsoft antitrust case settlement. According to status reports filed, the three-member panel began assessing prototypes of the new operating system in February 2008. Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research said that, "Microsoft's challenge for Windows 7 will be how can they continue to add features that consumers will want that also don't run afoul of regulators." References External links * Engineering Windows 7 - MSDN Blogs * The Windows 7 Blog for Developers - MSDN Blogs * Official Windows 7 Website - Microsoft * Windows 7 News From CompuWiki, a Wikia wiki. Category:Operating Systems Category:Microsoft Windows